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Swedish Mourns Death of its Former President and CEO, Richard Peterson

SEATTLE, Nov. 10, 2008 -- The entire Swedish family was deeply saddened
to learn that the medical center's former president and CEO, Richard Peterson,
died unexpectantly in his sleep early Friday (Nov. 7) at age 66.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Richard's wife, Rosemary, their three children,
as well as their other immediate family members and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Rosemary and Richard Peterson
Nursing Excellence Fund via the Swedish
Foundation or the Archbishop Hunthausen Foundation for the Homeless via
St. James Cathedral.

The Seattle Times published a feature
obituary about Richard Peterson in the Nov. 10 issue. And the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer published a feature
obituary about him on Nov. 15.

To view a full-page tribute ad to Richard that ran in the Nov. 14 issues of
The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, click
here.

In honor of the many significant contributions he made to the medical center
during his tenure at Swedish, here is a summary of his work and accomplishments:

When Richard H. Peterson took the helm as president and CEO of Swedish in 1995,
he could not have arrived at a bleaker time.

It was the era of health-care reform, and Swedish was recuperating from a series
of blows: its first financial losses in history, hundreds of lay offs, and a
bitter, very public labor dispute with the union representing its nurses. Swedish
was even on the verge of merging into Tacoma-based Multicare Health System.

The merger, of course, never came to be because, upon his arrival, Peterson
and the Board of Trustees made a decision to call it off and, instead, focus
on turning Swedish around. That’s exactly what Peterson did, and within
a short time, the institution was back on solid ground.

The rest, as they say, is history, with the organization growing and expanding
for another decade.

Peterson, who retired from Swedish in March 2007, passed away in his sleep
on Nov. 7 at age 66.

A period of growth

Peterson left Swedish with many accomplishments behind him. He presided over
a period of tremendous growth that included the construction of the 11-story
East Tower on the First Hill campus, the addition of Providence Seattle Medical
Center to the Swedish system in 2000 and the opening of a freestanding Emergency
Room and Specialty Center in Issaquah in 2005.

He also pushed to redefine Swedish as a collection of core specialty services,
rather than the traditional collection of hospitals. What emerged were dedicated
centers of excellence, such as the construction of the Swedish Cancer Institute
on First Hill in 2001 and, more recently, the Swedish Heart & Vascular Institute
and the Swedish Neuroscience Institute on the Providence campus and the Swedish
Orthopedic Institute on First Hill.

The pursuit of quality

A passionate advocate for quality throughout his career, Peterson made it a
major focus at Swedish. The organization’s quality-improvement work has
been recognized with several prestigious honors, including of the Leadership
Level of the Washington State Quality Award, the Codman Award for excellence
in stroke care and the 2007 Health Grades Award. Additionally, for nine years,
local consumers have named Swedish the hospital with the best overall quality
according to an annual survey done by the National Research Corp.

He was also a supporter of continuous learning and improvement and made ongoing
education and training part of the culture at Swedish. One of his lasting legacies
will be the creation of a dedicated education and conference center on the Providence
campus that will help managers, staff and physicians at Swedish develop and
learn new skills.

Serving the community

Another one of his passions was the issue of access to emergency health care
and a commitment to serving the uninsured in the community. Under his leadership
the level of charity care provided by Swedish grew from $5 million per year
when he started to more than $11 million per year at the end of his tenure.
He was also proud that the annual Celebrate Swedish gala went from raising $300,000
per year for charity care to more than $1 million per year during his tenure.

Collaboration

Amidst the competitive environment of health-care, Peterson sought ways to
collaborate with others whenever possible. Through partnerships with community
hospitals – such as Northwest, Stevens, Valley and Highline – Swedish
made its cancer- and heart-care services available in local communities.

Likewise, Peterson found innovative ways to partner with physicians. Swedish
became the first to develop hospital-physician joint ventures on services such
as medical imaging.

He also formed a productive relationship with the labor unions at Swedish and,
under his leadership, three nursing contracts were successfully negotiated.

A solid foundation

During his tenure, Peterson assembled a senior leadership team to operate and
develop different aspects of the organization. His administration will be remembered
for working tirelessly on many fronts, with the ultimate goals of making Swedish
the best place to receive care, and the best place to work and practice medicine.

He will be deeply missed by everyone at Swedish.

###

Biographical Information

Name: Richard H. Peterson

Age: 66

Role: President and CEO

Tenure at Swedish: 1995-2007

Previous experience: President and CEO of Fairview Riverside Hospital in
Minneapolis